To put it lightly, Secret Lair has been doing a lot recently. Not only are we seemingly getting a brand-new Superdrop every few weeks, but there are also precons and The Zeta Set. Beyond just releasing tons of content, Wizards has also been surprisingly up front about everything that’s been going on.
Today, in fact, Wizards finally addressed an upcoming Secret Lair precon that’s already been leaked in its entirety. As if that wasn’t bad enough, we also got a couple of positive notes for the future, though some players aren’t entirely happy.
Odds and Ends Is Coming Soon
While we’ve already seen literally every single card it contains, until now, Wizards has been surprisingly quiet about the Odds and Ends deck. Initially, this silence made sense when it was just the initial leaks from December of last year. Now that the entire deck is out in the wild, however, Wizards couldn’t realistically stay quiet for long.
Thanks to a new update from Secret Lair Director Matthew Hodgins, we know the Odds and Ends deck launches in “a few weeks.” While this is already exciting news, as the deck is packed with compelling reprints, Hodgins also confirmed that print-to-demand is staying. Much like the Hatsune Miku precon, there will be an initial print run with immediate deliveries, but most orders will arrive much later.
Additionally, Hodgins touched upon the idea of a new Secret Lair storefront, just for Commander precons and similar sales. Following the Hatsune Miku precon, this storefront is “more likely rather than less,” but it’s unclear when that will happen. Thankfully, Hodgins will provide another update after the Odds and Ends sale, continuing his incredibly welcome trend of transparency.
No More Boosters Planned
As if it wasn’t exciting enough that print-to-demand is staying put, Hodgins also addressed concerns around The Zeta Set. As much as it looks good, there have been huge concerns that a successful sell-out sale would cause repeat products. According to Hodgins, however, Wizards isn’t rushing toward that possibility, as there are “no plans on our current roadmap to do anything like that.”
While this is good news for anyone concerned about Secret Lair booster packs, Hodgins doesn’t promise it’ll never happen again. In fact, he even acknowledges that it looks like the “current” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. To calm any fears from this, however, Hodgins alluded to “genuinely exciting” plans in the future, which sounds like Wizards is pushing the boat out.
Unfortunately, not only is there no word on what these mystery projects are, but MTG players still aren’t satisfied. Thanks to Wizards’ history, some players fear this’ll be a repeat of Universes Beyond’s sudden integration. While there might be no plans currently, there’s the assumption that a successful enough release might change plans, making boosters more common.
Ultimately, we can only really wait and see what happens with The Zeta Set once it launches on September 2nd. While many players are still looking forward to this release, there’s one detail that may sour things somewhat…
Shame About the Shipping
Sadly, while the transparency in the Secret Lair update is incredibly welcome, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. As Hodgins noted, the new shipping that has been rolled out recently hasn’t been perfect. While Wizards is working on “near-term fixes,” many MTG players on social media were still frustrated.
With reports of deliveries being damaged and some just not happening at all, things do seem rather bleak. Hopefully, whatever fixes that Wizards is planning will properly address these issues, but hopes aren’t exactly high. For now, we can only wait and see what happens when The Zeta Set and the Perfectly Normal Superdrop launch.
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